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BREAKING: Brazil’s right-wing government to declare a military intervention in Rio de Janeiro

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Brazilian right-wing President Michel Temer has decided to declare intervention in public security in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The decree will be signed today.

With this measure, the Armed Forces assume responsibility for the command of the Civil and Military Police in the state of Rio. The decision will still have to go through the National Congress.

During the intervention, the Federal Constitution can not be changed, which can affect the progress of the Pension reform, which is a Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) and has a vote scheduled for next week.

Within the government, it was discussed the possibility of suspending the intervention during the Social Security vote, and then resuming it. But there is no definition yet about this strategy.

According to government ministers, the intervention period runs until December 31, 2018.

The decision was made after an emergency meeting at the Alvorada Palace on Thursday night (15). The intervention in the security had the consent of the governor Luiz Fernando Pezão.

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Temer also designated that General Walter Souza Braga Neto, of the Military Command of the East, will be the intervenor. He was one of those responsible for security during the Rio 2016 Olympics.

The National Congress will be summoned to appreciate the decree, as foreseen in the Constitution. It is now up to the President of Congress, Eunício Oliveira, to convene within 10 days the session so that the House and Senate approve or reject the intervention.

The meeting was long. Raiz Jungmann, Minister of Defense, Torquato Jardim, Justice, Sérgio Etchegoyen, the Office of Institutional Security, Henrique Meirelles, Fazenda, Dyogo Oliveira do Planejamento and Moreira Franco, were in the Alvorada Palace, Luiz Fernando Pezão , of the General Secretariat of the Presidency. In addition to the presidents of the Chamber, Rodrigo Maia and the Senate, Eunício Oliveira.

Participants at the meeting reported that the mayor, Rodrigo Maia, was initially opposed to this solution for the escalation of violence in Rio. But later he was convinced to accept the decision since the governor himself agreed.

The text of the decree was written during the meeting. Eunício Oliveira said that until the end of the meeting, the period that the intervention will last will not be established.

Violence in RJ

The meeting, shortly after the carnival, occurred amid the escalation of violence registered in Rio de Janeiro. There were trawlers, assaults on the blocks, people were stolen on the way to Sapucaí, looting the supermarket, among other crimes, from the South Zone to the North Zone of the capital. In addition, three MPs were killed during the carnival.

Governor Luiz Fernando Pezão admitted that security planning had failed. “We were not prepared, there was a flaw in the first two days, and then we reinforced that policing, but I think there was a mistake,” he said on Wednesday.

Paul Antonopoulos is a Research Fellow at the Center for Syncretic Studies. He has an MA in International Relations and is interested in Great Power Rivalry as well as the International Relations and Political Economy of the Middle East and Latin America.